Month: <span>January 2007</span>

I was just cruising around the edweek.org’s website, checking out the blogs when I came across a fellow’s blog titled “Two standard deviations from the left”. I went to it, thinking that it was a blog for a special education teacher. It’s not, its for a high school math teacher. But I still like the concept: maybe I can do something clever with my weblog title that reflects the status of the gifted child’s location on the common bell curve. Have to think about that.

It’s been a while since I reported on my job hunting status. I completed substituted ‘training’ for three different school districts in my area, gotten on the list to sub at a private Baptist school, actually subbed at a school for the gifted, researched tutoring from my home, researched augmenting homeschooling parents through a loose organization that meets at two churches in the area, researched working for summer camp programs and even did some research on working for curriculum based companies to write and test new curriculum. It was pretty hard to get very far on that idea.

I’ve reached a temporary conclusion. I will work for only one of the school districts because they use an online sub finding program. The other two districts assume that you like to be called daily and told what job they want you to have. First, I travel from my home and my apartment so reaching me by cell phone is the best, however, their systems don’t call out of state numbers. Yes, I could forward calls and I’m set up to do so, I just have to remember to punch a few numbers before I leave each place. I’d rather check online to see what is available and choose the job in the quiet of my home.

Second, Texas is a big state. They have to approach education from that perspective. They go for the ‘masses’ and anything that does not fit in the main stream isn’t really funded. To be a teacher of the gifted in this state does not mean teaching a class of gifted students. It means seeing a gifted student about 45 minutes a week, seeing a whole bunch of gifted students for about 45 minutes a week. That’s why working at the small school for the gifted as their permanent substitute and working for the one school district that seems to respect a person’s other ‘life’ has my top vote so far. Maybe even for the next two years, until several personal things fall into place.

Maybe this is a good time to advocate for the gifted child in higher places such as the government. I received an email the other day from the Davidson Institute asking for gifted teachers to share their experiences with No Child Left Behind. I hope the reporter finds some hard evidence of the effects of this act on the gifted child. It might be difficult to dig through the hearsay, but I hope that gifted teachers across the nation respond. I may have to see if he/she thinks I have anything interesting to contribute to hisher research…..

Dear Ed Guild members,Yesterday, a national newspaper education columnist contacted the Davidson Institute seeking information (both positive and negative) regarding the impact No Child Left Behind has had on one or more of the following: gifted students; gifted programming (cut or increased); or funding of gifted programs in schools, school districts or states.
If you have specific examples you would like to share with this reporter, please send an email to me at jdudley@ditd.org with the following information:

Your Name,
Title, Email, daytime phone number, where you live, plus name of school or school district and a Summary of NCLB impact

If you could send me this information by
tomorrow (Wednesday, Jan. 31)

at noon pacific it would be most appreciated as this reporter is working under a tight deadline.

Thank you!

Gifted Education Random 'Munchings"

According to this recent article, more teachers are blogging, some anonymously and some not. Even a couple of school districts are starting to lay down policies about blog use.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4506358.html

Teachers are usually one of the last groups to adopt something new, but when they do……

Random 'Munchings"

I should be learning all I can about technology and teaching while I’m on my one year personal sabbatical but I’m not. Well, I am but not as much as I have the time to. I’ve done a little rearranging on my weblog, as you can see. So when I was working, I had the desire to learn more about technology – but no time. When I’m not working, I have the time but no desire. Anyone else feel the same way? Also a factor is how much there is out there that a teacher can explore and use. It is a bit overwhelming. It would be nice to have someone walk you through it.

Getting someone to walk you through it…..The problem arises when a district forms a workshop because they must address the ‘techy’ teachers and the ‘non-techy’ teachers. Have you ever noticed the ones that are the loudest during a workshop? It’s the ones who are non-techy. The rest of us just sit around twiddling our thumbs while we wait for a thorough explanation on how to access one’s email. Only the real serious ‘techy’ teachers have enough motivation to learn on their own. Unfortunately, or fortunately, they have the responsibility to turn around and teach it to other teachers. Who has the time to do both when you are responsible for grading papers, filing forms and calling parents? If teachers were to be given time to explore this ‘tool’ would they use it wisely? What is ‘wise’ use of technology in teaching? Is blogging a ‘wise’ use of a teacher’s time?

I’m sure questions like these and others are being addressed and will be addressed in the coming years. (An example already is how some districts have already made a ruling about when a teacher can blog and on what machine they can blog.)
Back to my own situation, I may have to tap into my son’s vast knowledge of how to write code to get my website to look the way I want. He also points me to new technologies and interesting articles. I’m lucky. He’s a good teacher: patient but busy. Here is my official THANKS for his help!

Random 'Munchings"

It was great to learn more about my ‘writing’ buddy, Nancy on her weblog. I always knew she had far and wide experiences. When you read some of her writings you get a sense of it.

Tagged. The word brings to mind the constant games of tag we played in our front circular yard in Holly, Colorado with my two brothers and best friend, Melveta. Freeze tag was my favorite because you had to stop exactly in the position you were tagged in and you had to wait for someone to unfreeze you. Somebody always did because the more kids running around during the game, the more fun it was. Being tagged in the cyber world is similar. “You” has been chosen as the Man of the Year. It’s a funny choice, but at the same time a good choice. Anyone can post anything from radical plans to deep dark adolescent secrets that never made it past the bedroom door in years past. We’ve been ‘unfrozen’ and the ‘game is afoot’ which brings me to addressing being tagged. Here are a few interesting things about me:

Random 'Munchings" Writing Entries