Professional Development: "How Pineapple Charts Revolutionize Professional Development"

For most educators, when they think of professional development, the idea of a bunch of meetings, where individuals leave in information overload or sit in disgust or disengagement due to their experience level and or professional knowledge. Adult learning is critical and we as educational leaders must be strategic and specific in the intended outcomes expected and the offered presentation opportunities can definitely make a difference in how the information is received, retained, and in most cases implemented!

When it comes to providing support for our teachers at my school, I am always looking for new and engaging ways to offer professional development. One concept that I firmly believe proves to truly move a change in instructional best practices and curriculum implementation is by "tapping into teacher leadership." In my experience as an Instructional Coach, I have found this practice to be very beneficial and inviting. About a week ago I came across an article that was actually shared with me by one of our school's "tapped teacher leaders." In the article, "How Pineapple Charts Revolutionize Professional Development,"  by. Jennifer Gonzalez, a unique method was shared on how to engage teachers in  having choice in their professional development and instructional practice!

I invite you to read the above article and share your thoughts..Do you think this would be a good method to implement with teachers to share instructional best practices? How would you support the implementation of the "Pineapple Charts" in your school? Would you tweak anything about the method of the "Pineapple Charts" to better guide your school's instructional focuses?

Poverty vs Accountability

      In the U.S., 45.3 million people lived at or below the poverty line in 2013.” In the school I serve, 100 percent of our students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. Many students come to school hungry and often come to class without socks, coats, or shoes that fit. Studies show that families in poverty are effected greatly in the school system, and it has a direct correlation with how they perform in class most of the time. While it is always important to encourage our students to work hard to reach their full potential to climb out of poverty, one must always take into consideration the more urgent matters our students may be dealing with that standards and testing may take a back seat to. Their grades and performance are also greatly affected due to the little time parents are able to work and support their children. While knowing these statistics, why aren’t they taken into consideration when the state rates schools in high poverty districts for accreditation/CCRPI on high stakes testing performance?

How will November local elections change education in Atlanta

This November will be a huge for the city of Atlanta.  Tons of people have lined up to run for mayor, city council, and the Board of education.  This election will be unique because of the many things currently happening within the city.  The city itself is on the verge of revitalizing many of its forgotten areas.  The revitalization is to "prep" the city for new growth. The election will happen right at the start of most of this effort.

The mayor race typically doesn't influence education.  However, in Atlanta, the city and board of education were once connected.  The city still holds most of the deeds for buildings that the board of education uses or some schools operate in currently.  The board isn't allowed to sell some of the unused properties for profit because the city and Mayor simply will not hand them the deeds.  This hurts the students of Atlanta the most because that money could be used to continue to find new teachers or get more resources for the kids.

The city council race will also impact education in Atlanta for years to come.  In the mist of revitalizing most of the city, a new city council will be tasked to either continue this charge or walk away from it leaving scared pieces behind. However, I do believe members of the council will want to clean up their district and modernize their district to 21st century standards.  This means that are going to want new attractions, more taxes collected, and provide greater or more resources.  These things can only be done placing more younger people in their district.  The new focus will certainly bring more school-age children into the mix.  This boost well for Atlanta schools as they have seen a decline in enrollment over the past few years. Currently, out of the 15 seats plus the city council president, there will be 7 new council members plus a new city council president.   That means we will have a majority new city council regardless.

Lastly, more than 30 people are running for nine school board seats.  This race should turn more interesting as most candidates are aware they should only try to get enough votes to force a runoff.  The current school board, who was elected after the cheating scandal, came from the business and real estate world.  Very few members had educational backgrounds, and it shows with some of the discussions that have been made in turns of the school system's infrastructure.  Out of the nine seats, 3 new members will be elected regardless, 2 members will return, and 4 are hoping to return but are facing stiff competition.  This means that it is possible that majority of board members will be new and will come with new ideas.  Perhaps, the most interesting aspect will be whether they will want to keep the current superintendent or begin to search for a new one once her contract is over in two years.

EPEL 8970

Dear Colleagues:

At this time you should be able to post and respond to others. As you complete your assignments for this semester, continue to move forward on your major project. You should be in the evaluation stage and be getting ready to complete the results of your work.

JRK

How to solve the teacher shortage?

 Recently I read an article in the New York Times with the title A Way to Get Great Teachers Into the Classroom.  This question was right in line with many of the discussions and conversations that I have surrounding how to keep and recruit good teachers.  The article goes on to begin mentioning how charter schools are working to develop their certfication for their teachers that come from noneducational backgrounds.  Perhaps, to correct the issue of keeping and finding "great" teachers we need to refocus our perspective.  Perspective should be the importance, respect, and likeness of education and its instructors.

In America, everyone has been apart of some time of schooling.  This is amazing, but it presents some very thought-provoking challenges.  One everyone forms a view of teaching good or bad and reformulates their belief on how a school should be based on their experience.  Usually, this experience doesn't take into account the growing the demand to keep up with our international peers but aims only to please what is needed in America.  It is important to keep the international mind intact because there has never been a military country maintain its power when it education level drops. Secondly, if their schoolings experience was negative, they begin to project that negativity onto the education system now.  Meaning they usually don't believe in the system or have serious thoughts about what is happening.

Therefore, keeping preparation programs for teachers is critical.  Sure the scope of programs should be broader. However, the continuation of preparing teachers should continue at high-levels is much needed. Additionally, we must get society to begin to change their views on teachers as highly regarded members of society and not people who can manage our "kids" and should be paid more because of it.  Paying teachers more doesn't quite solve the problem either as it has been proven that teachers tend to work better for leaders then individual school settings.  I do not believe if charter systems created their teaching certification program will solve anything.  In fact, I think it will just continue to add chaos to an already confusing system.  It will add chaos because not enough people are signing up to be teachers and often the steps to become a highly-qualified teacher pass college is confusing, too time-consuming, and very difficult.

In conclusion, I believe that changing society's views on teachers would be a great start.  Of course, we would need to make sure that our teachers stay our the media for scandals and negative attention.  Moreover, we also will need to find strong leaders that can help keep teacher motivated.  A multileader system is much needed in schools where different leaders are responsible for different aspects.


A Way to Get Great Teachers into the classroom