Digital Soapbox

A Change is Needed

Brian McLaughlin — Thu, 27 May 2010 13:28:00 GMT

This past weekend I traveled to Trenton for the Standup Rally organized by Better Choices for New Jersey. This is the view from my spot on the green:

It was an exhilarating day with speakers from a variety of organizations, including the NJEA , presenting their ideas for a better New Jersey. Eyewitness News filed the following report on the activities of the day:

I understand that Governor Christie has a difficult situation to deal with. I understand that things need to change. In my opinion, the Governor's attitude toward teachers is a large part of the current crisis. I don't understand this approach. But enough others have addressed this sad state of affairs. I'd like to move on to thinking about some other issues.

2 Issues for further blog posts:

Where Do We Go from Here? (New Jersey Version)

There are almost 600 school districts in New Jersey. (NJ Public Schools Fact Sheet) A similar sized state, Virginia, has less than 200 school districts. I'm not an economist or a budget expert or even very good at arithmetic, but I think this is clearly part of the problem in New Jersey. But the bigger issue is: HOW DO WE FIX IT? Even if we get all the stakeholders to agree that this is a problem that needs to be addressed, HOW DO WE FIX IT? I don't have the answer. BUT, I think it has to be discussed. Our current system is institutionally inefficient!

Where Do We Go from Here? (USA Version)

The current school year structure was custom designed for the United States of America as it existed over a century ago! My PLN at school has been reading Diane Ravitch's new book The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education. She covers a lot of great discussions and honestly identifies her flip-flops on education issues over the past few decades, but much of what she discusses at the end of the book is where do we go from here. I agree with Diane that The Race to the Top is NOT the answer, I love her recent post on the issue. I'd like to find out how public education can change to address the vastly different world that we live in now.

Inspiration

shareski

Recently tweeted:Not sharing online, can be, in some ways is a selfish act. (I'm trying Dean, thanks for the push!)

More to follow . . .

Teachers Need to Laugh

Brian McLaughlin — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 13:26:00 GMT

I came across this skit from a British show, it's 'spot-on' as they would say:

My Week in a Sentence: A Podcast Experiment

Brian McLaughlin — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 19:39:00 GMT

This is a podcast created with Gabcast, through GizmoProject:

Gabcast! My Week in a Sentence #1

Trying to Move to Classroom 2.0

Brian McLaughlin — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 18:13:00 GMT

I have been thoroughly enjoying the K12online Conference. If you haven't visited, do check it out.

Recently I soaked in the presentation by Clarence Fisher; it really made sense to me! The title is ' Classroom 2.0 or You Live Where?' and I can recommend it highly.

I posted a comment to Clarence and then decided to use that to start a conversation here. Clarence talks about the need to change what we are doing in our classrooms to reflect the way the world is changing. He describes the classroom as studio rather than the traditional arrangement with everyone doing the same thing, at the same time in basic silence; I wholeheartedly agree!

My concerns/questions:

I use many of the tools Clarence tossed out there - blogs, wikis, podcasts, videos to teach things, students teaching some things, studio-esce classroom atmosphere, etc., but (you had to know there was a BUT coming!), I am expected to give quizzes and exams and grades that fit on report cards.

How do you reconcile the realization WE have of how the classroom must change to serve our students' needs, with the existing structure of our schools and the expectations of parents and administration?

I love the way he explained what I've been doing for the past few years - 'changing my relationship with the curriculum' - but, again while I'm changing, the school structure is not. I'm trying to effect that change and I feel like there is progress, but, in the mean time, how do you deal with the expected nature of school?

Thanks to Clarence for sharing his ideas. Keep leading us in the right direction!

tags technorati : k12online07cl01, k12online07, classroom2.0

Inspiration

Brian McLaughlin — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:55:00 GMT

I am inspired by several popular edubloggers, but I feel the strongest connection to David Warlick.
Maybe it is the fact that I have seen David several times, in person, at various conferences. Maybe it is his down home Carolina charm. Or it could be the comforting twang in his voice on the Connect Learning podcasts. But most likely, it is the simple fact that I think, more than anyone else that I read on a regular basis, David gets where we have been, where we are now and where we should head next in education.

In a message from St. Patrick's Day 2006, David wrote:

This message, today, is about a new story of new notions of the basic skills that describe what it means to be a reader, when information is increasingly networked; what it means to be a processor of information, when information is increasingly digital; what it means to be a writer, when information is increasingly overwhelming, and the ethical implications that ride with this new shape of information.

Thank you, David, for making me think, making me examine what I do in my classroom and for inspiring me to share my thoughts as a new edublogger! My concern is finding the time to be a fairly regular edublogger - I don't know how some folks can be SO prolific! ( Wes Fryer!)

tags technorati : Warlick, k12online07, Wes Fryer

Toes in the Dust

Brian McLaughlin — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:10:00 GMT

I know we all think of Neil Armstrong's first words on the moon as "That was one small step for man, one giant leap for Mankind." Actually, though, before he stepped off the Eagle, he tested the surface with his toe and commented on how it felt.

I've tried to get going on this before, but the current k12online conference has re-started my interest. I am jumping back in to the world of blogging. This is just a test to see how the text looks on the page. This is me kicking the surface of the blogosphere as I prepare to jump off the ladder and see how it feels on the surface. I am excited. Wish me luck!

tags technorati : Warlick, k12online07

DOPA Advice

Brian McLaughlin — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 16:15:00 GMT

After reading thoughts and comments about DOPA from Dave, Will and Wes, and specifically when I found that Will had posted a list of Senators on The Commerce Committee, who will take the next look at DOPA, I wrote the following email to Senator Frank Lautenberg, D-NJ. I hope all the attention in the blogosphere is making its way to the Senate! Anyway here is my effort to open their eyes:

Senator:
I noticed a news article today that says that the Senate Committee on Commerce is taking a look at DOPA, before it proceeds any further. As a member of that committee, I urge you to be aware of a few things.

First, social networks are not bad. There are some sites that fit under that description that are tremendous tools for educators and for society-at-large.

Second, educators are using these tools to prepare our young people for a future in which these tools are going to exist. These educators are also teaching the students about the potential dangers of some of these sites. This is a much more sensible approach to protecting our children from online (or any other) predators than just removing these tools from the schools.

Tools of all sorts have been misused for the full span of human existence. A screwdriver can be used as a murder weapon, should we stop manufacturing screwdrivers? Crayons can be used to draw pictures depicting hatred and violence, should we ban the use of crayons in schools? Textbooks have been used to present issues from one, skewed point of view, are all textbooks bad? If 76 million young people use a particular social networking site and a small fraction are led to some danger, should we ban access to all social networking sites in schools?

The answer to all of these questions, of course, is NO. My request for you and the rest of the Senate is to carefully prepare the final wording of DOPA. If, in the end, you decide that some form of DOPA is still needed, then please make sure that it is not a generic condemnation of anything that falls under the category of social networking. Support and trust our teachers to educate the students on good uses of social networking sites. Encourage schools to use their own security systems to limit access to sites that each school district decides are inappropriate for their students.

I agree that some sites should not be accessible from schools and libraries. We don't need a Federal law to decide what should be banned.

Thank you for your support on this matter.

Let's Do Away With NCLB!!

Brian McLaughlin — Mon, 15 May 2006 12:46:00 GMT

I read from Wes who learned from Doug, about the Commission on No Child Left Behind, which is soliciting input from educators about NCLB. My comments are included below, I urge you to submit your comments as well.

No Child Left Untested
No Child Left Unpressured

Our education system has been changed and the change is not good. Throughout the system the focus is on the test, not on the teaching or the learning. Preparing for the test has become the driving force in our system. The results of the test decide who is a good teacher and who is not. This is ALL WRONG!

The Federal Government should be making funding available for states to implement grant programs that will foster better learning environments for our children. The Federal Government should not be involved in deciding what needs to be taught in every classroom, in every state throughout the union.

In the educational community, NCLB is a 4-letter word. I hope that your Commission is bringing in some educators from the trenches to learn about their experiences with this high-stakes testing. Please ask some CLASSROOM teachers from various, economically disadvantaged school districts around the country to provide the Commission with observations of what they see happening in their classrooms. Unfortunately, you will find that levels of pressure are elevated, levels of frustration (teacher and student) are elevated, but most will report that levels of learning are unaffected or adversely affected.

I urge the Commission to reallocate funding from NCLB to provide the opportunity for states to get needed supplies and locally designed programs into the classrooms that desperately need relief. The classroom teachers need relief from the high stakes testing, relief from the test-imposed pressure and relief from the lack of resources that impair their students’ progress.

I urge the Commission to solicit the input of educational reformers such as Kyle Peck from Penn State University and his Educational Systems Design Project. Also, the folks at The Partnership for 21st Century Skills would be good to include, as well. Both of these projects promote accountability, but in a system where teacher can use the assessment data on an ongoing basis to change what they do in the classroom. I would be happy to be a part of this much needed change. I am committed to the goal of helping to reform our educational system to help students learn and acquire the skills they need for success in the 21st century. My website is edtechtutor.com; you can find my blog and contact info there as well.