What does it take?

I've found that sometimes the passion I have about issues seems so obvious and right to me that I become frustrated when others cannot see how simple and logical my thinking is. For example, today I sat in a meeting with my peers, all of whom I respect as educators, and felt that they were totally missing the potential for our team to make an impact on the course that education in our school takes. To sit and excuse any change as out of our control seemed like a defeatist perspective. Now, I know I may be an idealist, but I truly believe that each and every teacher in a system is a potential change agent and, when placed on a team, a powerful agent. If you or your team want something to change, and you know in your heart and mind that it is best for our learners, then present your case and see things improve. Silence is not an option if things are ever going to improve in education or any "business" for that matter.

NECAP Writing Rubric

	1	2	3	4	5	6
Purpose	minimal evidence of purpose	attempted or vague purpose	writing has a general purpose	purpose is evident; focus/controlling idea may not be maintained	purpose is clear; focus/controlling idea is maintained throughout	purpose is clear throughout; strong focus/controlling idea OR strongly stated purpose focuses the writing
Organiza-tion	little or no organization	attempted organization; lapses in coherence	some sense of organization; may have lapses in coherence	generally organized and coherent	well organized and coherent throughout	intentionally organized for effect
Details	random or minimal details	generalized, listed, or undeveloped details	some relevant details support purpose	details are relevant and mostly support purpose	details are relevant and support purpose; details are sufficiently elaborated	fully developed details; rich and/or insightful elaboration supports purpose
Language/ Structure	rudimentary or deficient use of language	may lack sentence control or may use language poorly	uses language adequately; may show little variety of sentence structures	well-constructed sentences; uses language well	strong command of sentence structure; uses language to enhance meaning	distinctive voice, tone, and style enhance meaning
Grammar/ Usage/ Mechanics	may have errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics that interfere with meaning	may have errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics that interfere with meaning	may have some errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics	may have some errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics	consistent application of the rules of grade-level grammar, usage, and mechanics	consistent application of the rules of grade-level grammar, usage, and mechanics

Though is worth our time to view and reflect upon. What are your thoughts?

This may be presented in response to college level education; however, as you view and connect you'll see that it's a festering of what the middle and high school teachers are experiencing.

Student Centered Learning

Alright, I have been looking for videos to use with a small group of teachers that are working together on a school improvement committee that is focusing on student learning. I'm struggling to find an engaging video. Among the videos I have found that include the essence of the focus:

With this video it is just within th efirst half that Student Centered Learning occurs.

And that is it for now. How do we find video on student centered focus without the emphsis on technology? I am begining to think you can't seperate the two in many ways. Technology engages the students to explore problems and solve them using people and information that is very distant. I am still prefering videos like the following, but my quest is "Do they motivate teachers?" (They motivate me.)

I think we all need to step back and think about what impact we can have on our students as learners. After all we are preparing them for jobs that may not even exist at this time. Karl Fisch is helping us see the bigger picture that we need to keep in mind as we address the needs of our students. I would encourage you to add his blog to your RSS feed if you haven't already.

Toss the Traditional Textbook: Revamping a Curriculum | Edutopia

Toss the Traditional Textbook: Revamping a Curriculum | Edutopia

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