lunchbyteblog

wouldn't it be great if public schools had the funding that they needed? as i sit here writing, i'm working on several grant proposals and trying to dream up ways to raise money for our school. we are a public school in north carolina and, like in most states, our state is facing a huge budget deficit for next year. rather than address a tax code that hasn't been changed since the great depression, our legislature is currently considering cutting state employee pay. the future is not very bright for more funding for public schools. so, we are looking for alternative sources for funding. in schools, a little bit can often go a long way and we already fund raise for quite a few of our programs. we also are constantly on the look-out for grants and other programs that can infuse a little bit of cash into our coffers. as a new school (this is our 6th year of existence), we are always in need of money to help us with our ideas. we get excited when we get a new couch or s...

I am sitting in a classroom listening to music. This music is coming from a mix of radio stations that i have created and is being streamed over the internet to the laptop in front of me. The laptop, in turn, is connected to an old marantz "stereophonic receiver" and the receiver is connected to four speakers that are allowing the rest of the class to listen to my music. I am a teacher and the other people that are in the classroom with me are students. They are all facing computers that line the walls of the classroom. Some stare intently at the computer screens in front of them. Some students are typing, some watching videos, some manipulating things on the screen with their mouse. Some of the students are listening to music of their own through various electronic devices and headphones or earbuds. These are the students that think my music is old. These are the students that may have questionable taste. As I sit here, I am thinking about the future of education. ...

just came across this article in my inbox this morning. this is what i've been advocating for: http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2011/01/should_michigan_schools_replac.html what do you think?

As I write this post, most of the school districts in our area are out for a "snow day." We have already been out for three days and it looks like we probably won't have students at school tomorrow either. Both teachers and students like "snow days" at first but what we don't like is having to come on a Saturday or losing some of our break to make these days up. I'm wondering in this day and age why we even bother to reschedule classes that are canceled. With the advent of the internet and web 2.0 tools, is there even a reason to reschedule a day that has been missed because of weather? Couldn't we and shouldn't we be able to place assignments on classroom websites and let students work on these assignments at times that fit their schedules? We could post videos to youtube, have discussions on edmodo, and twitter and text our students all from the comforts of our homes and the students could respond in kind from their homes. Many schools hav...

the new year is here and with it, some brief thoughts on education. #1. we really need to rethink schools. from the ground up. the physical design, what the day looks like, what the teachers are doing and what the students are doing. the more i think about it the more i believe that what is really going to make a difference in education are the schools that innovate with regards to all of the above. it's not evolution we need, it's a complete revolution. #2. for the above to happen, public education needs more $ and a commitment from the local community to make the change happen. if we keep trying to do education on the cheap then we are going to have schools where students are barely prepared. yes, i can teach my students about our national government but taking them to washington, dc and letting them watch it happen and being able to talk to the people who are making it happen is a totally different animal than hearing me talk about it. trips cost money, speakers cost...

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."- Ferris Bueller I was thinking about that great philosopher Ferris Bueller earlier today. I was reflecting on a conversation that I had this past Friday with our school superintendent, associate superintendent, personnel director, and IT administrator. Our school principal was kind enough to join me and support me. The topic of the conversation was the school district's recent decision to block facebook and twitter on all school employee computers. I had requested the meeting and the assembled district staff had been gracious enough to hear me out. I will spare you all the details of the meeting except to say that I have the utmost respect for everyone there and that our discussion was wide ranging, free flowing, and ultimately concerned with what was best for teachers and students. Every time I talk to the people at the district office I am impressed with how much they ...

Well, the Thanksgiving holiday break comes to a close today so I'm going to spend the rest of the day working on grading papers. I have to say that teaching never feels like a "job" except when I have to go through the drudgery of "grading." It just seems as if we should have come up with better forms of assessment by now. The one size fits all worksheet, quiz, multiple choice exam, just doesn't feel authentic to me and it never has. Besides, once all the grades are in that's when the real massaging of the numbers begins- classroom participation, extra credit, etc... Technology should really be answering this question for us. The days of bubble sheets are hopefully numbered. I want to see technology leveraged in a way that frees teachers from the "marking blues" and gets rid of the "red pen syndrome." Data should be driving our decisions when it comes to curriculum design and lesson ideas. I want a data tracking system that sh...