There has been a lot of talk about “merit pay” for teachers. I’m not here to debate the idea but I can tell you it has existed for years. I know because I have received it. You might wonder just how much I got. Well, it hasn’t been monetary. I hope this post is a bit more colorful than bragging about incentive money. For me, merit pay comes through watching kids “get it.” Let me elaborate.

This is my audio visual desk where I do most of my teaching from. I also use a Mobi to travel around the classroom and control the laptop as well as the LCD projector remotely. These are all great tools but without a lesson plan strategy like EDI and a daily plan of what I plan to teach and assess, the fancy gadgets mean nothing. That’s why I treat every day as an achievable goal. I sketch out the focused objectives, aka standards, I will teach through explicit direct instruction, focusing mainly on guided practice. After I assess through the use of whiteboards, I can see who is getting it and who needs more guided help. At that point, the ones getting it, in theory 70% of the kids, go to independent practice while I take the struggling ones to the side where I have a large whiteboard and a kidney table.

As you can see, the “audio visual” equipment is not my primary tool for teaching. The most effective tool is knowing what they will learn and how they will show they know it. From there it is pretty much like washing clothes: Wash, dry, rinse, repeat. This is a simple vignette of what I and millions of teachers do every day. Sure, some do it differently than me but if you are true to your intrinsic values, you are always inventing, creating, revising. If you do it right, the kids advance. In my opinion, the thrill and satisfaction of that is the best “merit pay” of teaching.

This is part of a series where I share the best links I’ve run across based on teaching and education. This installment contains links regarding stress management, clutter management, free educational videos and a contest to win teaching Shakespeare materials. Grab your hat and hop in the Jeep and scroll down to read this teaching blog safari!

• Clutter-Free Classroom: Teacher Work Area~ Clutter-Free Classroom Project: Week A great, concise set of tips in delivering a writing activity. I will use this for sure with my own slant on it.
• Educational Insights » Blog Archive » The Futures Channel Looks like a great video source for educational stuff. The best part is that it isn’t blocked by most school filters.
• misscalcul8: Complain Less, Learn More I love this post. It is indeed hard to draw a firm line and say “no whining” but I think that is what the real world is like so we ren’t doing them any favors
• Virtual Tour: Panoramic Images: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History How great for my high desert students. They can’t get to the Smithsonian, or even the Bowers in Santa Ana. I can take them to the Smithsonian through this site.
• GetShakespeare.com – Cast thy vote now to win the 60Min Shakespeare set! Do you teach Shakespeare to kids or know someone who does? Which play next is the question asked by (GetShakespeare Facebook Page) You could win materials!

Every weekend I am faced once again with the same professional challenge: making a weekly lesson plan schedule. The obvious reason for this is to have a backbone for the activities and learning that go on in my classroom all week. The other reason is to ensure to myself and others that I am not just “winging it” without a plan. Good teachers make weekly plans. I have been at this for 13 years and I won’t say I am a “good teacher” I will let others say that if they wish. I have found that making weekly plans yields the high score returns from my students. Finding the weaknesses of my students’ scores as well as the way I have taught up to this point is the goal of my weekend planning time. Here’s a very broad presentation of how I do it.

NOTE: In this field, while I seek only to help teachers from a peer-to-peer perspective, there are an abundance of snooty types who seek to criticize and devour ideas different from their own. I would like it known that this is a very personal sharing post and is certainly not meant to be perfect nor the “only” way one can prepare for a powerful week of teaching. For you to get something out of it, you may have to do a bit of “read between the lines.” having said that, I would not be as excited to share this with you were I not extremely excited about what I do and they way I do it in this particular situation. Thank you for having an open mind as you continue. Now for: “How to Make a Weekly Lesson Plan Schedule.”

I Start with a rolling cart. I put a minimum of books and TE’s I need into the rolling cart so I have the access I need at home on the weekend. You may not be sure what to bring. In that case, let me give you my choices as an example: a math TE, the district pacing guide, ELA curriculum (Mine is a PDF so is always at home with me), a Google Calendar printout from the week below (read about how I make the Google calendar printouts here), the state standards blueprint, the state standards released test questions, and finally a printout of my students’ most recent assessment scores.

I start with their assessment scores. 1) I identify the lowest standards and write them daily into the lessons. This is often called “backward mapping,” whatever they tested low in, teach again. 2) Then I find matching curriculum and write that into the Google Calendar lesson plan. The former is pretty simply since I have access to Oars.net. This is a great online program that aggregates assessment data for teachers. I can see in an instant what standards are high and need only be spiraled and I can also see the low stuff needing intervention. The way I go through my day teaching these lessons in in almost constant evolution. Having said that, watch for a post in the next week or two where I will share how the weekly lesson plan looks in a given teaching day. What do you think about my art of planning a teaching week? Have you anything to add? That would be great.

Here’s another topic for my teacher journal and I hope to get some external input in the comments on it. In every class there should be some sort of rewards system. Kids are small adults and adults work for rewards, why shouldn’t they? In teaching, I have found the PC and mainstream way most teachers take is the way of monetary rewards. Kids follow the rules and get junk the teacher buys with her/his own money or other sources. There is a problem I see with this monetized rewards system. If kids do right to get a tangible physical reward, they will only do right when they can get a reward. This is a poor way to prepare kids for life because many times in life we are not rewarded monetarily for doing the right thing.

I prefer non monetary rewards. When I was a Pizza Hut manager, the trainers told us that people will do more for a compliment than they will for a slight raise. People want to be seen. Again, students are small people so why wouldn’t they behave the same way grownups do? Throughout the day, I make sure I am giving high fives and compliments when they are warranted. I don’t go out and buy a bunch of monetary “prizes” for my students. Once in a while I will buy my kids stuff but I keep this few and far between because I know training them to crave non-monetary rewards is a more suitable training for the world we all live and work in.

It’s possible I’m a little bitter because in 1997 something happened in my classroom that really changed me. I bought a small mechanized Harley Davidson motorcycle toy to give away at the end of the month. (I also regularly bought monetary rewards for my class at that time). The $40 toy was stolen off my desk and I never retrieved it. The kids never revealed who and how it was taken. I decided pretty soon after that event that it was not the best idea to have monetary rewards in the classroom. That’s my view, what do you think?

A guest post by Vanessa Lang

Teaching children about money is just as important as any other subject we cover in our classrooms. Whether these students are in kindergarten or their last semester of college, they should be given constant reminders about their personal finances, the importance of good credit, and many other financial topics. While this may be true, financial literacy seems to have taken a back burner in our education system. At a time when our economy is so poor, this should be just the opposite. We should be educating our students now more than ever about money if we want to prevent some of them from financial disaster in the future.

Start When They Are Young
The sooner children start to learn about proper money management, the more successful they will be with their finances. Normally, children learn their financial habits from their parents, but, as educators, we all know that parents don’t always set the best example. If a child sees their parents going into debt and making poor financial decisions, they will assume that it is the norm, and when it comes time to make their own financial decisions, they will follow their parents’ lead. We can stop this trend if we take the time to bring finance into our classrooms.

Get Their Attention
One of my favorite experiments done with children is the one where an adult places a marshmallow in front of a child and tells them that they can either eat it now or they can wait 15 minutes and have two marshmallows. It has been said that those children who are able to wait are going to be more successful in life. This can be said for a child’s knowledge of money and saving as well. If a child realizes that they can save their money to get something great later instead of buying something small now, they obviously know the value of a dollar and will probably be more financially successful.

One way you can get your students’ attention and teach them about money is through a point system. Give them fake money for whenever they make an accomplishment, like a good grade on a test or a good deed in the classroom, and let them save the money to buy items from a school store at the end of each month. Urge them to save for something big, but allow them to buy something small if they wish. Sometimes, the best lessons they can learn are through their own mistakes. If a student spends all of their money one month on small trinkets and then isn’t able to buy a stuffed animal at the end of the year, they may realize that saving their money is a better option.

More Advanced Topics
As students get older, they will need to be introduced to more advanced topics. Spending and saving wisely is great, but there is much more to financial success than that. In higher grades, students should start learning about loans, credit cards, and credit. If your students plan on going to college, they will probably have to take out a student loan. Far too many students don’t think about how they are going to pay off their student loans until it is too late. Students should understand that a deferred payment plan doesn’t mean that they will be able to put off those loan payments forever.

Credit cards are also an important subject, especially for teenagers. They watch movies and television shows where the characters use credit cards, and some may think that swiping that little plastic card means free money. This topic could also lead you into a discussion about credit ratings. Many students also don’t know what a bad credit rating can do to their future until it is too late. With your help, your students may never have to worry about being rejected for an apartment or a job because of their credit rating.

Vanessa Lang is an author who writes guest posts on the topics of business, marketing, credit cards, and personal finance. Additionally, she works for a website that focuses on educating readers about payday loans.

These are the best links I ran across in the past week or so based on teaching and education.

• Jobs of the Future – Will Our Students Be Prepared? | Angela Maiers Educational Services, Inc. Angela gives us a great link as well as her own insight on preparing kids for jobs of the future.
• My Nominations for the 2011 Edublog Awards | Angela Maiers Educational Services, Inc. Angela gives a great list here for edu related blogs you should check out.
• Permission to Play Please – The Power of Play in All Our Lives | Angela Maiers Educational Services, Inc. With recess being taken away all over the country in various schools, I think this idea of play needs to be brought up.
• Quiet Libraries, a Thing of the Past? | Tutor Fi Blog I have seen this from our librarians (the last 2). Is this true? s this a good trend? I kind of see the library as a temple or a church not a place to talk and make noise.
• Successful Teaching: My First Ebook This is so excellent! A teacher has a blog and has made it into an ebook with the “best-of” and it is available on Lulu. I will definitely be picking one up. This is something I could very well see myself doing someday.
• Successful Teaching: Useful Information In and Out of the Classroom 11/25/11 Cool link love series I always enjoy. Tailored for educators but something for everyone.
• The Surprising Effects of a Good Teacher | Tutor Fi Blog “Aside from getting good grades in school, some of the positive, long-lasting effects of having an excellent teacher include the following: Less likely to become pregnant as teenagers More likely to enroll in college More likely to earn more

Whatever school or university you may teach at, there are benchmarks the school probably uses to measure academic progress.  In the state of California, there is a “standards test” that each child must take in April.  This tests provides valuable information to the state and local school systems, as well as the world, about how well our kids are progressing toward goals.  Because it is such a “high stakes” test, there is often a lot of anxiety shared by students and teachers about it.  I have found that using similar tests can help bring that anxiety down (you should have SOME anxiety as a teacher I think) and help familiarize the kids with the “giant” they will soon be facing.

I’ve been teaching since 1997 and I have seen many many test prep tools.  The best ones I have found in recent years are simply: other tests.  By modeling with the kids how to take tests you give them valuable skills you didn’t even know you had.  I recommend trying as a test prep tool in your next teaching day, a related test.  Get an overhead, document camera, or power point and project each question on the wall.  Go through all the processes you went through when taking your teaching exams.  The kids will love it and thank you later for sharing!  *Note: test prep will never replace extended vigorous teaching of a concept that include all the steps of a proven teaching-psychology based system like EDI. This post recommends its tip only after the normal teaching curriculum has been taught.  So, now … what do you think of preparing for tests with tests?

Paying for schooling can be hard for aspiring teachers and teachers who are trying to continue their education. However, there are many different forms of aid available to help cover education costs. Here are some of the most commonly used financial aid options for teachers.

Student Loans

There are two fundamental types of student loans: those sponsored by the federal government and loans taken out through a private lending institution. There is a third alternative, peer-to-peer lending, which is becoming more popular each year. Before you decide on the type of loan that will work best for you it’s essential that you research the benefits and potential downside of each.

Federal Government Loans

Student loans taken out through the U.S. government are called Stafford loans or Perkins loans. The money comes directly from the United States Department of Education. If you qualify for a government loan, the money will come to you through a participating school. However, you must meet certain criteria before you’re considered eligible for a federal loan. The first thing that you need to do to qualify is to be enrolled in an accredited college or university. You can also qualify by enrolling in a trade, career, or technical school. As a general rule, Stafford loans don’t have to be paid back until after you graduate from college. However, if you leave school without earning a degree, it’s possibly that you could be required to start paying the loan back immediately. You will have to fill out an FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and go through a review process before being accepted. Another federal loan program, the Perkins loan program, is need-based, and carries a fixed 5% interest rate throughout the length of the loan term, which normally runs for 10 years.

TEACH, a Federal Program

TEACH (Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education) is aimed at those who would like to teach at a public or private school for low-income families. It is a grant program designed to help defray the cost of receiving your teaching degree. To qualify, you must be willing to teach four full academic years out of the next eight at a school that encourages enrollment by low-income family members. This money is in the form of a grant, so it won’t have to be paid back unless you don’t meet their criteria. If you back out of the agreement, that money will become an unsubsidized student loan and the funds will need to be paid back, with interest. Part of the criteria for TEACH is that you must be willing to instruct low-income children in high demand subjects such as mathematics, foreign languages, reading, science, and special education. To be considered eligible for a TEACH Grant, you have to fill out the FAFSA. However, there is no need to prove that you have a financial need in order to be eligible.

Private Loans

A private loan is the type of loan you would get from a private financial institution, such as a bank or credit union. Money from a private loan need not be designated specifically for your college education, it is merely money loaned to you with the expectation that it will be repaid, with interest, at agreed upon terms. While the terms of a federal loan are pretty standard, the terms of a loan through a private lender can vary quite a bit. A private loan is almost always determined based upon your credit rating. If you have a good credit score, your interest rates can be fairly low. If you don’t have good credit, your rates could be very high–you may even be asked to provide a cosigner. The terms for a private student loan are left entirely up to the financial institution you’re dealing with–you either take it or leave it.

Peer-to-Peer Lending

Peer-to-peer lending is fast becoming a popular method of securing a student loan. Essentially it is a financial agreement between two parties–a financial lending institution is not normally involved–whereby one person borrows money from another. Once the terms are agreed to, the borrower is expected to repay the loan within a predetermined time frame–with interest. A peer-to-peer loan is a formal agreement, usually requiring the borrower to sign a contract laying out the terms of repayment. Most people that take out a peer-to-peer loan instead of borrowing from a bank or the government have a poor credit rating or low grades that aren’t high enough to qualify for a government loan.

Guest post from Karen Schweitzer. Karen writes about online schools for BestOnlineColleges.com.

Are you looking for online free resources such as lesson plans and maybe a little inspiration? This is a set of K-12 education related entries that includes everything from creating reading lesson plans to making cake in a coffee cup!  Thank you to the amazing visionaries who submitted their posts to this edition! I know any lesson plans that are inspired from these posts will be highly inspired!

Alvaro Fernandez presents Learning about Learning: an Interview with Joshua Waitzkin posted at SharpBrains, saying, “Enjoy a human brain in full display.”

Christina presents Classroom Blogging posted at Early Childhood Teacher, saying, “This blog is about how classroom blogging helps communicate with parents.”

Margaret Garcia presents Top 50 Blogs For Studying Africa posted at Online University Reviews.

OnlineCollege presents Walden, and 99 other Free Online Books posted at Universities and Colleges.

Sarah Scrafford presents 100 Open Courses About Urban Studies, Planning, and Life posted at Learn-gasm.

Christina presents Half Day Kindergarten vs. Full Day Kindergarten posted at Early Childhood Teacher.

Catherine Eagleson presents Learning with fun. posted at Crosswords For Fun, saying, “Homeschooling can be a challenge, particularly when it comes to finding resources and activities that will stimulate your child’s mental activity. Puzzles can be a great educational asset but are sometimes overlooked by parents as they seek ?educational? materials. Puzzles have long been favorite playthings for children and for this reason they are seem as toys rather than objects of skill and learning development.”

Kate presents Secrets of the Trade posted at Advice on Love, Life, and Everything Between, saying, “An elementary teacher’s secrets for parents”

pennyryder presents Good Teachers – Primary School posted at Teaching Challenges.

Amy@LiteracyLaunchpad presents The Hat – Lesson Reflection posted at Literacy Launchpad, saying, “A fun predicting lesson using Jan Brett’s The Hat”

Scott Palat presents 5 Steps to Balance Discipline with School Work. How You Can Make Homework Part of a Calm Evening! | posted at Colleen Palat.

Christina presents Google Maps posted at Early Childhood Teacher, saying, “This blog is about using Google Maps/technology in an Early Childhood classroom.”

Catherine Eagleson presents Hangman – A Great Word Game For All Ages! posted at Crosswords For Fun, saying, “Hangman is a word game that is very effective in the classroom. Students will find it interactive and perhaps even competitive. They will be having so much fun, they probably won’t even realize they are learning!”

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Musical Accord (Spoof Contract) posted at Mad Kane’s Humor Blog.

Michelle Sweeney presents Chocolate Cake In A Mug – Orble posted at Michelle.

I hope these links have given you some motivation and inspiration to write and deliver dynamite lesson plans.

Contribution by Kennith Griffin

I was so happy when I got into the Vanderbilt Law School that I didn’t know what to do. I knew the school was a reach when I applied, so I just never thought I’d get in. It’s a great school academically, and since I am a huge country music fan I thought that Nashville would be the perfect place for me. I applied to a bunch of other schools since I know how competitive the process is, but Vanderbilt was definitely my first choice. I was also lucky enough to find a great house with awesome people too. We knew that since none of us knows Nashville that well it was important to check out home security nashville and get a home alarm system. We are three women living alone and it would be a shame if anything happened to us while at home. We all feel much safer now that we have a home alarm and we can’t wait to start school. We know it’s going to be very challenging and time consuming, but we are all so happy to be here that we know we’ll do great.

White dry-erase boards are an excellent way to check for understanding (CFU) during and after a lesson. They are also a great way to avoid wasting paper in your lesson plans. Of course, they are also very useful when stating the learning objective. Instead of printing up a class set of the material I am covering in a lesson, I print up one for each class I teach and project it on the screen. The students interact with me through dry-erase markers and white boards and it makes for an almost sport of a lesson.

This can be used in any subject. I teach the concept, use CFU throughout the teaching, then I model the concept in guided practice, asking students to gradually join me. Eventually I “release” them to do questions on their own and once again I CFU through the use of the white boards. I use the term “1 … 2 … 3 … show it to me” and then I can instantly assess a class of 33 kids. I can see if 80% or more are getting it.  If they are, I usually move on. 100% mastery is always the true goal though it isn’t always achieved. As I share anecdotes about my teaching, my goal is to help my readers achieve that goal. If we can get closer through teacher tips like this, we will be more effective in the classroom.

There are challenges getting the kids to leave the caps on the markers and not “doodle” on the white boards. It needs to be stressed to them that they are not doing “art” but rather they are answering questions to show me they “get it.” They get a kick out of it when I say 80% accuracy or better yet 100% accuracy. Sometimes they even cheer. While exuberant, they are focused. This is what makes white boards a great tool for classroom management.

I’ve written here before about how I am moving away from the use of copies and paper in my classroom. I think these changes have only benefited my students. It might be true to say that too much paper improves the presentation but widens the disconnect between the teacher and learner. Then again, this is just my personal experience. I know not everyone is ready for what I am calling “The paperless classroom.” I encourage the use of white boards for CFU. They are simple, always on hand, and you can assess the entire class in an instant. And when we’re through (in my classroom) we play guitar easy songs, it breaks up the brain strain.

Dear teachers, this is one of those posts where I share a product with you. As you may recall, I don’t do this unless the product is something I have used and benefited from myself. Spice Rack Source is all those things. On your next break, will you be doing any home cooking? I will be. When I cook, I use a lot of spices, that’s why I shopped for and purchased the best spice rack I could find. This will probably be all I need until those golden years of retirement. I can only dream of those days. When I have all the time to do the cooking I dream of.

This company is amazing, their website shows a carousel of innovative spice racks. Some of them resemble Andy Warhol works of art while others are ingeniously utilitarian. If you are into chrome casings, they have quite a variety. If you envision a wall spice rack, they have those too. It seems they’ve thought of everything, you owe it to yourself (and your kitchen) to shop online at this site. You’ll always have your paprika and cinnamon right when and where you need them!
-
Some posts on this blog are sponsored. All opinions are 100% genuine.

Classroom management and expectations are a teacher‘s best friend or worst enemy.  It depends on how well a teacher conveys them to the kids. Research I’ve read shows that the beginning of the year is the best time to declare your classroom rules and expectations.  If you fail to get the point across at that time, you have exponentially less control in the classroom until year’s end. You might say it is the most crucial learning objective you’ll have.  Most teachers I talk to agree the beginning of the year is the time to establish authority, rules, and expectations.  What they don’t all agree on however is how to do it.

I knew one teacher who believed in passing out a handout with the rules and not going over them.  I knew another who would would take the entire first week of the school year modeling, explaining, and getting the kids to act out every scenario imaginable.  He actually used puppets and the kids would “ad-lib” scenarios with him such as: “Hey, imagine the puppet is a kid outside and he says: ‘Your momma is ugly.’” The kids would horse around and make the puppets fight.  Then, that teacher would take the teaching opportunity to talk about how silly it is to fight over words. What he’s really doing is setting the stage for child discipline. I feel the second teacher had a much better approach. I am not saying you should blindly anymore than you should buy an rv without an rv insurance quote.

I don’t focus solely on behavior management the whole first week, but I use most of it to set the curriculum aside and teach rules and expectations.  I had kids the first week holding up crossed fingers and I had no idea why.  I found out their teacher last year used that as a signal to go to the restroom.  This is an example of why teachers should take time establishing new “grooves” of activity in the classroom.  There is something called “affective filter” that hinders kids from feeling comfortable learning and taking risks in the classroom.  When the rules are unclear, an anxiety permeates the room.  This anxiety can keep kids from learning to their potential and cause all sorts of mayhem.

I don’t recommend an entire week of nothing but rules and expectations but I think at least half a week with time for followup is a must.

Last week I noticed on Thursday that my kids were still not quite sure how I check for understanding.  My method is different from many teachers as you may know if you’ve read my pieces on that.  To summarize it, I say the question, wait, and then call on a random non-volunteer.  This breaks with the traditional method of checking for understanding by forward questioning. I decided I would review and practice it until the kids were “awake” and answering when their number was called.  They eventually did get it and we are ready to start the year strong. When things like this work, I share them here as teacher tips.

Have you thought about your style of class management? Is there a way you could convey it more clearly at the beginning of the year?

Being a teacher is a wonderful career choice if you value the intrinsic rewards it brings. I’ve always thrived on the energy of seeing a human advance in a subject or in relational-academic skills. This is what I think of as the “human-profit” margin. For example, one of my goals is always to see each kid improve her/his standardized test score over the preceding year. There are many altruistic values of teaching that motivate and keep us on track in our job. If you are a new teacher, take a look at these occupational traits. They are five things I value above and beyond financial compensation that make me want to come to work every day.

1. Kids are now what we once were and they will one day run society: This can be both exciting and daunting. Knowing one day the child I am teaching long division may one day perform open heart surgery on someone. On the other hand, they could become homeless and jobless if I don’t do my part to give them the skills and motivation to succeed.
2. Many times you are the only role model of a normal life: I had a parent conference a few years back where the parent had told me right there at the table that all 5 of her kids had different dads. That alone is staggering. I grew up in a house where my dad was always there fore me: tucking me in, coaching my soccer teams, teaching me guitar … I know not everyone has it that good but this was a lighter shade of pale. I felt sad for the confusion the child must live with each day. I couldn’t be that child’s dad (who wasn’t in the picture) but I started paying more attention to him and giving him the best advice I could during that year about life and academics. I hope I made a difference. Each day I have that opportunity as an educator.
3. Students need a frame of reference to understand art: We forget sometimes how much kids do not know about the world. Most adults can tell you the difference between classical and pop music … most 4th graders can’t. Unless someone explains the difference between an 18 century painting an something modern my a cubist such as Picasso, or Andy Warhol for that matter … it’s all just blurs of sensation. A person may go their whole life and never appreciate art until someone tells them about it.
4. Students don’t always know how to be nice: We as adults get a million thoughts in our heads daily that are negative and self-defeating. If we are lucky (as I was lucky) we learn about positive self talk and talk with others. A person can go their whole life and never learn how to speak positively. I get to teach that every day (not always a walk in the park let me tell you).

Finally, kids need to learn respect for authority. A person can get to 15-18 or even 80 without that and suffer greatly because of it. As a teacher you are like a “soft” police officer, or judge. You represent authority and if you don’t teach then what respect is, chances are they will not have it when they are older. I like to think that every child who passes through my classroom in a given year knows how to respect her/his elders and her/his superiors. I know this will save them much trouble.

To close, these are 5 reasons I come to work each day. I am not rich by monetary standards but the reason I don’t feel poor is because each day I get to act on altruistic values. They are what give me the most satisfaction in my career. As a final note, I have found keeping an online teacher journal very helpful in measuring my progress toward altruistic goals, I highly recommend it. At the same time, it isn’t for everyone. Stay tuned for why I think that, in another post.

I went in and changed the meta keywords for this blog and also added a plugin to create internal links with keywords. Why? Well, to be very transparent, this blog has grown a bit boring for me. Instead of selling the url or scrapping the whole project, I decided to refine its focus. It is a teacher‘s blog with an emphasis on methods, tips, and occasional lesson plans right out of my book. I hope to create valuable posts with something worth YOUR while once a week of sooner in some cases. I want to that the 250 feed readers I have according to Feedburner. You guys are who I think about when I publish on this blog. I mean to do right by my contribution. To those others surfing in, you are important as well. I hope we can get to know each other better in 2012. I am going to focus on quality over quantity and I will always write by my motto of providing value for the reader. I see the reader as a teacher, out there, doing well or maybe stuck in a conundrum that most of us can relate with. I hope to help some out, if I can. See you in 2012. Thank you sincerely for being a reader of my blog. My first “new vision” post will come in a few days.

I was tagged in a post by writer Michael Kwan about the movie Waiting for Superman. In his article, he asked my opinion of charter schools. I wrote this post in response to that. To research, I immediately went back to read another article I had run across on Facebook called Whose Children Have Been Left Behind? I recommend reading it to get a truly reliable source’s view. I can only offer my inklings as a classroom teacher in a small district in California. Some people see Charter Schools as the Black diamond earrings of education. I say, the data is now here so let’s take a look at it. I know how to teach the standards and run my classroom but criticizing charter schools is not my usual blogging forte. Just the same, I do have some opinions about charter schools and here they are.

I know that parents in the inner city want the best teachers and the best school for their child. I also know perceptions of that can vary. When they are offered a charter school option, it probably sounds really good. If they can get transportation and it is an exciting move for their child, I never blame them for leaving. But I miss the kids that go. I work hard to make kids want to stay at my school but if they need to go and try the charter, I say bon voyage and good luck. We remain studying and working to meet our touchstone goals in my classroom throughout the year without them.

If you read the article I cited above you will see that after 10 years charter schools are more or less in the same predicament they aimed to solve. The achievement gap is worse in some cases. Based on that and my experience working as a public school teacher for 13 years, I don’t look to charter schools as the model that will save us.

We need more of the arts in our schools. We need more civil education in social studies so kids know how to act properly and kindly in the world. While I love teaching Language Arts and math, I think we need a more renaissance curriculum that prepares kids for the jobs that don’t exist today but will exist tomorrow.

Last, I admit I am biased but I think society as a whole needs to respect principals and teachers more. We spend a good part of every day with future citizens of the world. We have spent years in school to have the foundation but every day we learn to do what we do more efficiently. It isn’t easy. I don’t work for a charter school, but rather a plain old regular public school. I am proud when my kids improve and I work to meet their individual needs. I do this whether they be in a “race to the top” position or if they are illiterate (ie; from another country struggling to just read English).I know each teacher struggles with the same challenges, often without support or acknowledgement. Teaching as a career deserves the public’s respect. One thing people may not know who are reading this is that charter schools get to pick the students that attend their school. Traditional public schools like mine must accept any child living in their zone.

Ultimately, I feel there is no “catch-all” that can solve the needs of a classroom or a school. It’s a day to day struggle and sometimes you fall down but you always get up. That’s the only model I know that is universal. When we focus on what the children really need and the support the teachers need to give it, we see a lot of need. I think it is self-evident the Charter model is not the “Superman” model. Charter schools can be good and they can be bad, just like plain old traditional public schools.

Love this quote! Not just for teachers but especially us.

Professional learning communities are revolutionizing education. We are learning at my school how powerful it can be when teachers work together. Unfortunately, it does require a lot of patience and work to make happen. Some people see these as laminate flooring: something to make your work look and function better in a faster time frame than on ones own, or as some people call it, the lone ranger teacher.

In teaching, as with any professional job, there are times when you have to make professional conversations happen. This might be be over an issue of student motivation or just plain getting along issues. They can be awful to do and they make your stomach churn but they are hugely important and have to be done whether comfortable or not. It would be nice if we could just stay in our classrooms until dismissal and not bother anyone and not be bothered by anyone but that is a fantasy land. To keep kids “moving” up from one level to another or staying at the top level, it requires teachers engaging in professional conversations on a regular basis. It’s not about who’s cool or not or who likes who or not. It is simply a commitment to moving kids upward by all means available. When teachers agree to work this way … everybody benefits and at the end of the year, great progress is inevitable.

The dynamite teacher ensures and fosters professional learning communities.

Having been a teacher since 1997, I’ve analyzed myself and other teachers quite a bit. One thing I have come to identify is when I am working and planning from internal motivation as opposed to external. Internal motivation has to do with ideals and morals. It is the extra plan you make for Johnny who is in fourth grade and still can barely read (hypothetical name and situation). It is the goals you set for yourself as a teacher and the expectations you set for your kids based on what you think is their best interest.

The external motivation is your evaluator. It is the way you will be perceived. It means putting up a wall that is required as opposed to using creativity to make it your own. I admit we cannot escape external demands on our profession. We must adhere, to a degree, to the required parameters we are mandated to. At the same time, I think it is abhorrent that some teachers identify this as the bare minimum and they only go as far is the external motivators require. There must be a balance.

Someone I knew at the district where I work died today. He was quite young and had a lot going for him professionally. Though he wasn’t in the classroom, he was revolutionizing the profession with technology and training hordes of teachers to use his website. His death was sudden and unexpected. It touched me because I respected his internal motivation. It was clear he wanted to help teachers and students succeed and accomplish great things in math. I remember him that way.

This has me thinking once again about my own motivation. If I want to be remembered for something I ought to be doing it. That is where the internal motivation comes in. Am I being true to my conscience as I plan and teach kids? Or, rather am I getting by on the bare minimum of mandates. Also, health needs to be a concern. It’s not always the I feel the best idea to work harder, sometimes you need to stop chopping and sharpen your axe. teachers are ones who can exceed mandates while being true to their own morals and values as educators. If this post does anything for you I would hope it caused you to ask yourself what your own mandates are. I call that internal motivation.

Below is an excerpt taken from an article I wrote, published at Blogcritics.

With economic woes at the forefront, young people choosing a career have their work cut out for them. A job like teaching, which once seemed to this Gen-Xer to be a solid choice, is now in question because of budget cuts. Not only could it prove difficult to keep a teaching job in the future, but even more likely, the pay could deteriorate below survival amounts. How can a government pay its teachers when it can’t even keep its books straight? The upside of this may be that only those who love teaching and feel “called” to it will apply. That, of course, would benefit the students of America.

Then again, maybe I am wrong. Maybe teachers will retain the decent position they have now on the food chain. Maybe the trade-off of teaching as opposed to working in business will remain a medium income with the security of a contract year after year. While some of my friends after high school sought business degrees and big salaries, I chose education. I have seen some of my friends crash and burn in their quest for the almighty dollar, and I have seen others flourish beyond what I ever believed possible. As for me, I am happy as a teacher, but some months are harder than others at just making ends meet.

Like most of you, I’ve been very concerned about the bailout crisis in American politics. I know we have a deficit in the trillions, and now Bush and others say we must write a $700 billion check from the future to the failed banks. Scary. I can’t help but wonder what will happen to teaching as a career. Our salaries come out of that empty pot from which they are pulling the $700 billion. But isn’t teaching a need of society? Won’t our government make sure that the children have the teachers they need and that the teachers are taken care of?

Read the whole article via A Teaching Career: Safe in this Economy? – Blogcritics Culture.